One of the most difficult
things in a robotics competition is balancing the time between the mechanical
and software elements of the robot. Start writing your code as early as you can.
Your software is the key to a great robot. Try to keep things simple, and build
prototypes since early on: don't focus entirely on planning the design before
starting to build the robot, but make sure that you have a roughly good idea of
the design you want to implement before starting constructing. But above all,
have fun!